Additions

Peter Rosenberg invoked “anti-Semitism” six times in “The Israeli Side” (Ojo-June issue). That’s a lot of anti-Semitism. Tony Klug, writing for Tikkun Magazine, a Jewish critique of politics, culture, and society, described what he called “definition creep” that trivializes past Jewish suffering.

Zionists such as Alan Dershowitz browbeat those who criticize Israel. They include Jimmy Carter, Mearsheimer and Walt, and Norman Finkelstein (whose university tenure Dershowitz blocked). Zionist wrath fell upon Judge Richard Goldstone for his U.N. report on Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Goldstone said in an interview with Bill Moyers, “Just because I’m a Jew shouldn’t be any reason not to investigate Israel.”

Jason Serota wrote in the New York Times “For my generation, anti-Semitism is rare. At the end of the day I am an American, and I find I don’t have much in common with Israelis. My home is Philadelphia.”

Serota calls to mind people like Admiral Chester Nimitz, who grew up speaking German in the Texas German town of Fredericksburg. His ethnic background didn’t compromise his American patriotism.

Anti-Semitism is rampant in the Arab world, however. Yehoshua Porath, professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote “The major factor nourishing Arab anti-Semitism was not hatred for the Jews as such but opposition to Jewish settlement in Palestine. It was inevitable that the opposition to Zionist settlement would turn into a loathing of all Jews.”

Zionist leaders from the beginning understood that Arabs would not give up their land without a fight. This is clear from the writings of such leaders as Zeev Jabotinsky, David ben Gurion, and many others.

Since 1948 the Zionists have dispossessed over a million Palestinians of their homes and farms and driven 80,000 Syrians from the Golan Heights. Today Israel relies on South African-style bantustans in a system of apartheid. Jimmy Carter calls the Israeli system worse than South African apartheid, because at least blacks could use and cross the roads in South Africa.

Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu said, “I have been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land. It reminded me so much of what happened to us blacks in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.”

Albert Einstein was among 28 American Jewish intellectuals who signed a letter to the New York Times protesting the 1948 visit to the United States of Menachem Begin. They described him as a Nazi Fascist and the leader of the Irgun Gang of terrorists who – among other terrorist crimes – murdered 240 innocent men, women, and children in the Arab village of Deir Yassin.

Rosenberg claims that “The town of Jericho is a walled Palestinian community that Israelis and tourists cannot visit.” Maybe Rosenberg thinks that Israel still has Jericho under the total siege that began in 2000 and closed the city to Palestinians and foreigners alike. Rosenberg should check travel services on the Internet. Last February, the number of tourists reached 24,000 – of whom 4,500 were Israeli citizens.

Rosenberg spews similar propaganda about Bethlehem. He says it’s divided from Jerusalem by a wall and the gun positions are Palestinian efforts to keep Israelis out, but he disregards that it’s an Israeli wall. Palestinian gun positions? Really? A United Nations report states: “Bethlehem is surrounded by a combination of nine Israeli settlements, a stretch of the Separation Barrier, roads restricted to Israelis, and a multitude of checkpoints and roadblocks.”

Rosenberg ridicules the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the cause for 9/11. He’s spinning out of control. Israel was a direct cause for 9/11. There can be no better example that blind support for Israel is damaging America.

Osama bin Laden is on record in numerous quotes declaring that 9/11 was because of America’s support of Israel.

The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the “principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed ...from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.” The same was true for Mohamed Atta, one of the pilots.

General David Petraeus testified before a congressional committee that Israeli policies endanger American troops. Israel angered and embarrassed Vice President Joseph Biden on his recent visit. While he was there, Israel announced 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem. The vice president denounced this as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.”

Rosenberg tells us that the Israelis and the Jewish people have won 100 Nobel prizes (nine were Israelis). He demarcates Jewish genius and backward Arabs: “If it wasn’t for oil, the Muslims would still be riding around their deserts on camels and sleeping in tents by an oasis.” Rosenberg thus confirms the UN’s earlier declaration that Zionism is racism.

Some Israeli leaders don’t travel in Europe for fear of arrest for war crimes. The UN has voted on numerous resolutions that condemn Israel – with only Israel and the United States voting nay. Israel must be saying to the United States, “All the world is queer, save thee and me, and even Joe Biden is a little queer.”

(Ed. Note: With this rebuttal to the rebuttal, we are again declaring a moratorium on this general subject, lest we soon become known as either The Israeli News or The Palestinian Gazette!)